Ax, pick, and like hand tool



June 21, 1932. w. w. WRIGHT AX, PICK, ANDLIKE HAND TOOL Filed Jan. 6,1931 2 Sheets-Sheet l \NVENTOR: w 6%MM f Attorney.

June 21, 1932. w. w. WRIGHT AX, PICK, AND LIKE HAND TOOL Filed Jan. 6.1931 2 Sheets-Shag: 2

INVENTOR;

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Patented June 21, 1932 WALTER WILLIAMS WRIGHT, on UMTALI, soU'rHnR-Nnrronnsra, AFRICA AX, PICK, AND LIKE; HAND TOOL Application filedJanuary 6, 1931 Serial No. 506,883, and in Great Britain February 15,1930.

This invention relates to improvements in axes, picks and other handtools, and has for its chief object to provide improved and simplifiedmeans for securing the head to the haft of the tool.

According to the present invention, the means for holding the head onthe haft are so arranged that blows on the head or on a member used tohold the head on the haft 110 set up a wedge action either between thehead and the haft or between a member associated with the head and thehaft, in order securely to hold the head on the h'aft. In the preferredform of" this invention,

I provide a sleeve around the head end of the haft, said sleeve beingprovided with diametrically opposite slots to receive a tapered cotteror a tapered tang on the head so that blows on the cotter or on the headtend to drive the cotter or tang further into the slot, thereby puttingthe sleeve further on to the haft and firmly securing the head inposition.

-'The sleeve and the haft may be tapered so that the pulling of thesleeve on to the haft will tend to compress the haft, or I may arrange ametal wedge, either in the haft or between the sleeve and the bait, inwhich case the sleeve and the haft end may be parallel. The metal wedgeis provided with a slot through which the tang or the cotter passes sothat the wedge also is drawn into or onto the haft when the headercotter is struck as the case may be, thereby increasing the firm holdingof the head in position.

More particularly in those cases in which the cotter is employed. thesleeve, which is disposed about the haft, may form part of the head ofthe tool. 1

Other advantageous and novel features are provided by means of thisinvention and will be more fully described heerinafter.

In order that this invention may be the more clearly understood andreadily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the same withreference to the accompanying drawings which illustrate by way ofexample and not of limitationcertain constructional embodiments of thisinvention, and in which Figure 1 is a fragmentary section through thehead end of a simple form of hatchet ac cording to this invention, and

Figure 2 is a section on line 22 thereof.

Figure 3 is a view similar to that shown in Figure 1 and illustrating amodified form of i5 securing the head to-the haft according to thisinvention.

Figure 4 is an end elevation of the form shown in Figure 3.

Figure 5 is an elevation of the wedge shown. in Figures 3 and 4, and

Figure 6 is a fragmentary elevation of a modified form of wedge.

Figure 7 is a sectional view showing a further modified form of securingan ax head to itsdhaft according to the present invention. Figure 8 is asection on line 8-'8 of the same.

Figure '9 shows a still further modified form of fixing according to thepresent invention. I

Figure 10 shows by means of a view similar to Figure 1 one suitablemethod of securing a composite toolto the haft, and

Figure 11 is ah end illustrated in'Figure 10. V

Figure 12 shows a further form of fixing a composite tool which will beof particular use in connection with combined pick and railway beater.

Figure 13 illustrates a modification of the device shown in Figure 12,and

Figure 14 is an end elevation of the tool. shown in Figure 13.

Figure 15 shows a still further form of tool according to thisinvention, and

Figure 16 is an end elevation of the tool shown in Figure 15.

Referring now to Figures 1 and 2 of'the accompanying drawings, the axhead a is provided with a tapering tang a and the head end 5 of the haftis provided with a tapering slot 72 to receive this tang a. The end ofthe haft is tapered slightly, as shown, and a metal sleeve 0, similarlytapered, is disposed about the haft 25. This sleeve is slotted toreceive the tang. It will thus be seen that the effect of the blows onthe ax head a will not only be to drive the tang a further into 75elevation of the tool :15 tang a the slot 6 and so hold the same firmly,but in addition the sleeve will be drawn down on to the haft in thedirectionof the arrow, thus the parts are firmly held together.

In the modification shownin Figures 3 to 5, the sleeve 0 and the bait bmay be parallel sided, as shown, and I provide a steel or like metalwedge d which is inserted in a tapering slot 6 in the end of the haftZ), the said sleeve 0 also having a slot d? through which the tang apasses, as above described. The tang a bears only on the bottom end ofthe slot in the wedge and the slot, within which the wedge is disposed,is of suchlength that there is a space left between the bottom of theslot and the bottom of the wedge (see Figure 3). In this form, inaddition'to the tightening action referred to above, the effect of theblows on the ax'head a will be todraw the wedge (Z further into the slot6 This will tend to separate the two parts of the haft end I) and willpress them firmly against the sleeve, thereby providing additionalsecurity.

Further, as shown in Figure 6, the top end 5 of the wedge 61 may, ifdesired, be provided with outstanding projections or ears (Z which bearon! the top of thesleeve 0 so that any movement of the Wedge alsoforcesthe sleeve efurther on to the haft b.

Referring now to the form of fixing shown in Figures 7 and 8 in thisform, the haft b is tapered outwardly instead of inwardly towards itsend and the sleeve, 6 is similarly tapered and is slotted as at e toreceive the A filling in strip f may be provided between the sleeve 6and the haft I) and a strengthening bridge e may be provided across thewider end of the sleeve 6, in order to strengthen the same, and also toform'an abutment for the one side of'the tang a Protecting lips 6 mayalso be provided onthe sleeve 6.

The fitting shown in Figure 9 is a simplified form of that shown inFigures 7 and 8 and in this form-the tang a passes through a slot in thehaft b. The haft b and the sleeve 6 are tapered outwardly as before. Themethod of fixing shown in this figure will operate in a similar mannerto that shown in Figures 1 and 2 except that instead of blows on the axhead a having the effect of draw ing the sleeve on to the haft b, theywill have the effect of tending to force the same off of the haft.Since, however, the haft and sleeve are outwardly tapered, thismovement, if any, will cause the sleeve and the head to be more firmlyheld on the haft. I The present invention isnot limited to its use forsecuring a's'ingle toolto a haft, it may be used for securing acomposite or double tool to the haft. Certain embodiments of this formof the inventionare shown in Figures 10 to 14 inclusive and will now bedescribed.

l Figures 10 andll show a combined aX a railway beater) are worn outpart.

hammer and nail drawer. The haft b and the sleeve 6 are outwardlytapered, as de scribed in connection with Figure 9, and the haft andsleeve are likewise slotted. Instead, however, of the slots in the haftb and the slot 0 in the sleeve 6 being adapted to receive onlythetaperedtang a of the ax a, they are, in addition, adapted to'receivethe tapered tang 9 of a hammer g. .The hammer head 9 and the ax headware arranged on opposite a and g abut against one another within theslot in the haft b. In this way blows on either the hammer g or the axa, will have the effect of tightening the grip on the tangs and willhold the tools firmly in position.

A nail drawer h is also provided and is held at its ends between thesleeve e and thehaft b, asshown in Figure 10. Figure 11 showsthe shapeof the nail drawer, and the manner in which it is used will be apparent.I

Figure 12 illustrates a form of this invention which will be ofparticular use .on railways as acombined pick and railway beater. Inthis form the sleeve 6 is provided with a head a. and has smallprojections e which 'mayform'the ends of the slot '6 The tangs 7' of thetwo tools (one of which may be a pick, and: the other of which may beeach tapered and stepped as shown. They are inserted into the slot 6 inthe sleeve 6 from opposite directions,

and the'straight faces-of the tangs are each provided :with notches sothat one set of notches 3' can takeabout theprojectionse". One tang isthus heldfirmly in position and the wedge action set up by the taperedand stepped portions holds the other tang firmly. Blowson the headsofeither of the tangs will increase the wedge action thegrip on the twotools. The two tools are, however, readily detachable and replaceable,it being merely necessary to strike theend of the tang witha hammer torelease the wedge act-ion and allow either of the toolsto be removed. IV

The' combined picks and railway beaters, asheretofore constructed, havebeen made all in one piece so that when one of the parts is WOITH 1? theother part, even though it may be quite good, has to be discarded withthe This disadvantage is overcome by means of the present inventionwhich enables the worn out part to be replaced without affecting theother part. 7

A modification of this form of device,

which also enables two separate tools to be fixed to a'single handle orhaft, is shown in Figures 13 and 14. Inthis form the tangs 7c are notstepped along the tapered portion but are ofreduced. thickness attheir'ends, as at 7' so that they take about one another after themannershown in Figure 14.

The sleeve 6 is of a similar construction to that shown in Figure 12,except that the proand will increase sides of the haft b so'that thetapering tangs jections 6 may be omitted, and like reference lettershave been used to indicate like parts.

In all of the above described forms of the invention the wedge ortapered member has formed the tang of the tool. This need not be so,however, as the tapered member, to which the blows are applied, in orderto increase the grip between the head and the bait, may be in the formof a separate cotter.

Figures 15 and 16 illustrate a further form of composite tool accordingto this invention. In this form, the end of the haft Z) is surrounded bya sleeve 0 which is provided with an extension 0 forming a hammer, arecess 0 being provided under this projection for a purpose hereinafterdescribed. The sleeve 0 is also formed on one side to receive the shankof a nail drawer p, and the parts are all held together by the taperingtongue a of the ax head a (or the tang of an adze, as shown in dottedlines). which tang passes through the shank of the nail drawer, thesleeve, the bait 72 and the wedge d and finally projects into the recess0 Blows on the ax head a (or on the adze) will thus hold the partsfirmly together.

If desired, a standard haft and sleeve may be provided, and varioustools, all of which have a standard sized tang, may be used with thesame, thereby avoiding the necessity of keeping in stock a large numberof different sized shanks.

If desired, the tangs may be panelled, as shown in certain figures ofthe drawings.

It will thus be seen that by means of this invention a simple means ofsecuring ax heads to the haft is provided in which all screwing,riveting and the like is dispensed with. Further, although thisinvention has been more particularly described as applied to thesecuring of ax heads, it will be obvious that it is equally applicableto the securing of pick heads, hoes, rakes, shovels and other handtools.

Among the many advantages accruing from the use of this invention may bementioned, firstly, that all chance of the head be coming loose isavoided, secondly, the device is very simple, and thirdly, the ax or thelike will be better balanced.

I claim 1. A hand tool comprising a haft, a slotted metal sleevesurrounding said haft, a slotted wedge in said haft, a tool head, atapered tang to saidtool head, said tapered tang passing through saidslots in said sleeve and said slot in said wedge so that blows on thetool head cause the said wedge to wedge more tightly.

2. A hand tool comprising a haft, a slotted metal sleeve surroundingsaid haft, a slotted wedge between said haft and said sleeve, a

tool head and tapered tang to said tool head,

said tapered tang passing through said slots in said sleeve and saidslot in said wedge.

3. A hand tool comprising a bait, a slotted metal sleeve surroundingsaid haft, a slotted wedge in said haft, ears on said wedge bearing onsaid metal sleeve, a tool head and a tapered tang to said tool head,said tapered tang passing through said slots in said sleeve and saidslot in said wedge.

4. A hand tool comprising a haft, a slotted metal sleeve surroundingsaid haft, a slotted wedge in said haft, two tool heads, a tapered. tangto each of said tool heads, said tapered tangs passing in oppositedirections through said slots in said sleeve and through the slot insaid wedge. I 1

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

WALTER WILLIAMS WRIGHT.

